FOYLES, the family-owned bookshop, is considering a new foray overseas, after agreeing terms to open its first new branch in more than 70 years.
The 102-year-old company said that it was considering setting up in other English-speaking countries, as it unveiled plans to open a 300 sq m store specialising in books on music and culture at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank. Foyles once had outlets in Belfast, Dublin, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Christopher Foyle, chairman of the bookshop, which was founded by his grandfather William Foyle and his great- uncle Gilbert Foyle, said the new London store was part of an expansion strategy. He said the company would also try to expand in countries where Foyles’s range of books is not available.
Mr Foyle said the company was on target to beat the £215,000 profit it made in the year to the end of June 2004 — the first time it had moved into the black for several years. Sales are up 15 per cent in the seven months since July 1, against the same period a year before, and sales in December rose 17.9 per cent year on year.
Mr Foyle took over the business six days before the death of his aunt Christina Foyle in 1999. In the 1960s and 1970s, Foyles became celebrated for her eccentricities, and its literary lunches became famous.
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The chief executive, Mike McGinley, a former Virgin Megastore manager, has overseen a £4 million refit of the Charing Cross Road store and the introduction of a computerised catalogue system.